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In the Wisconsin State
Assembly I have been committed to protecting and supporting Wisconsin’s
agriculture economy and rural communities - they are the backbone of our
state and one of our strongest economic engines.
This past legislative session the Wisconsin State Assembly has attempted to
strengthen small business and farms in rural Wisconsin. We have made the
effort to do so by expanding job creating incentives to more local meat and
dairy processing companies. These incentives are already generating
investments in communities across the state. We also expanded the Dairy Farm
Modernization Tax Credit, an extremely successful job creation incentive for
dairy farmers across the Wisconsin.
In a successful effort to create and retain jobs we crated a food processing
job creation incentive to encourage food processors in every corner of the
state to expand and create more jobs. I was also pleased to be joined by
Sen. Vinehout and Rep. Radcliffe in creating a new Farm-to-School program.
This program builds a necessary partnership between local farmers and their
communities that will help farms financially and provide our kids with
healthy, fresh meals at school.
In an effort to protect consumers, we have passed legislation to ensure that
Wisconsin’s professional honey makers and their products are protected from
the influx of fake products that might appear in the marketplace. This is
why I joined several colleges in supporting the Assembly’s “honey bill”
which discourages such practices. We have also protected Wisconsin’s farming
heritage and supported the next generation of family farms by approving the
beginning farmer tax credit and the farm asset owner credit in an effort to
assist farmers finically.
In the Assembly, we also worked to protect the working land initiative to
insure access to important resources, fought to eliminate the proposed land
use assessment changes added in the state budget and most notably in a team
effort with Sen. Vinehout and others we successfully eliminated the proposed
“slaughter fee” to help Wisconsin’s meat-processors during this difficult
economic time.
As I have been out and about, one of the issues that I have been discussing
with my constituents is supporting local agricultural markets and buying our
food products from local farmers and local producers. By approving funding
for the “Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin” program we will continue to move down
that path. I very much look forward to the continuing promotion of this
idea. After all, we are serious about strengthening our economy, the best
place to start is right here in Western Wisconsin at the local level.
As a State Representative who represents rural Wisconsin, I am passionate
about agriculture and rural issues. In Western Wisconsin we have a proud
agricultural heritage and protecting that heritage remains one of my top
priorities as your State Representative.
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